frauke at large

Got up at 5 am on friday morning, to experience the Tokyo fish market in Tsukiji. It’s one of the world’s largest fish markets, handling over 2,000 tons of marine products every day. The whole place is filled with fresh fish, shellfish and huge tuna and with its many scooters, trucks, sellers and buyers in full action, it exudes an atmosphere of real excitement. The trading and bidding for the huge big, torpedo like tuna fish seemed very tense indeed.

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Took the Shinkansen train from Osaka to Tokyo – the penultimate leg of my trip to Japan. The train as well as Tokyo were simply amazing. I picked this picture, as it epitomises Japan for me: the Shinkansen high speed train, the neon signs, the funny shaped cars … it’s a civilisation at the edge of technological advancement and sophistication.

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Couldn’t come to Japan without seeing the wonderful gardens of Kyoto, however to my disappointment, they are spread out around the city and so it’s almost impossible to see more than two or three a day, and so that’s what I had to make do with. My first stop was the Fushimi-inari Taisha shrine of the Inari cult, dedicated to the god of rice and sake.

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As a result of a national holiday here in China, I thought I’d take the opportunity to see some more of Asia and travel to Japan. Flew to Osaka from Shanghai to go and meet up with one of my friends for a few days, who is currently out there on business, and then traveled to Kyoto and Tokyo.

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